Wendell Pierce on His Pal Michael J. Fox: 'Crisis Doesn't Develop Character, It Reveals Character' (Exclusive)
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The star of ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ exclusively tells PEOPLE about his friendship with the actor and Parkinson’s disease advocate
The Michael J. Fox Show may have aired for just one season, but for Wendell Pierce, the experience is one he’ll remember for life.
In the short-lived sitcom, which aired from 2013 to 2014, the Tony-nominated actor played Michael J. Fox’s onscreen boss, Harris Green, who recruits Fox’s character back to broadcast journalism after a five-year hiatus.
Offscreen, Fox, 62, and Pierce, 59, became good friends and remain pals to this day.
“Crisis doesn't develop character, it reveals character,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “There is not a better person that is emblematic of that than Michael J. Fox. He has transformed the way people advocate for his disease, how people approach it.”
Eric Liebowitz/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at age 29. Since then, the Back to the Future actor has been public about his battle with the neurological disease, using his celebrity status to raise awareness around Parkinson’s and establish the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is dedicated to finding a cure.
In 2023, Fox’s life and health struggles became the subject of the Apple TV+ documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
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Although Pierce has moved on to other projects, including a Tony-nominated performance of Willy Loman on the West End, Broadway revivals of Death of a Salesman and most recently, the popular Prime Video series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Pierce calls his friendship with Fox a “great honor.”
“He will be remembered for changing our culture in America twice, first as this great young artist and comedian, then as a man who faced his greatest challenge and rose to the occasion to create something even greater," he says.
For more on Wendell Pierce, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan premieres Friday, June 30 on Prime Video.
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